The Book of Princesses
by Sparkers16
Summary: Twilight Sparkle finds out that Celestia wants to make her into a princess...but what if that's not what she wants? One-shot.


A lavender unicorn with a dark mane streaked with pink and purple faced a flowerpot that carried a withered, pink flower. "Absolute concentration," she breathed. Her horn glowed a magenta color as she activated her magic. The unicorn pictured the old flower, pictured it's petals losing their wrinkles, the flower standing up tall and beautiful. And then, the flower in the flowerpot began to rejuvenate, just as the unicorn pictured. But as soon as it seemed to be finished, the flower instantly withered again.

"Agh! I just can't get this age spell right!" the unicorn growled.

"Don't worry, my dear student," a white alicorn with a multicolored, flowing mane said from off to the side. "Age spells are very difficult. I know you'll get it eventually."

"Can I have one more try, Princess Celestia? Please?" the unicorn begged.

"Of course," the princess sighed, trying to hide her eyes rolling. Twilight Sparkle had been trying to perfect this spell for an hour.

Twilight's horn glowed once again. The flower's petals smoothed out, and it lost the defeated hunch in it's stem. The bright pink flower stood tall and beautiful. And this time, it didn't wither!

"I did it!" Twilight exclaimed, wiping her brow.

"Very good!" Princess Celestia smiled at her student. Twilight was learning advanced magic like this age spell at lightning speed. Soon, it would be time. Time for the unicorn to ascend.

Just then, a palace guard ran into the glimmering throne room. "Your Highness! There's been another instance of parasprites in Baltimare!"

"Oh, dear," Celestia sighed. "It seems we can't keep the darned things at bay. I'm very sorry, Twilight, but our lesson must end here. I have to go deal with the parasprites."

"B-but what about the rest of the spells you wanted to review?" Twilight Sparkle panicked. "And the new ones you wanted to teach me?!"

"Don't worry," Celestia comforted as she levitated her saddlebag onto her back. "I'm sure that your magic is doing very well, as always. And as for the new spells, go look for 'The Book of Advanced Magic' in the Starswirl the Bearded section of the Canterlot Archives. Some of the spells I was planning on teaching you will be in there in the first few chapters."

"Okay," Twilight nodded, concealing her disappointment as the princess left. Twilight was so busy in Ponyville, she hardly got any lessons with her teacher anymore. She trotted through the gleaming white castle to the Starswirl the Bearded wing. A guard happily opened up the forbidden wing, and Twilight stepped inside.

"Book of Advanced Magic...B..." Twilight murmured to herself as she passed the humongous hourglass in the center of the room. Searching alphabetically, she soon found the book. It was written by none other than Starswirl the Bearded himself! Twilight had never read this book before. Excited, she plopped down into an armchair and cracked the heavy book open. Since the lesson was cancelled early, Twilight had a lot of time until she had to catch the train back to Ponyville. She might as well start on reading The Book of Advanced Magic now; it was the size of an encyclopedia!

Twilight flipped through the pages, entertained as she read about all these spells that she never thought were possible. Cloning spells, life-giving spells, climate spells...and to think Princess Celestia thought she could pull these off! The thought made Twilight shiver with glee. But as she did, she dropped the heavy book, landing on her hoof.

"Ow, ow, ow," Twilight sucked in a breath of air, levitating the book off of her hoof. She looked back at the book, and sighed as she realized that she'd lost her place. The book was open to one of the very last pages. Twilight knew Princess Celestia told her to read only the first few chapters, but she was so curious! Twilight read the heading of the page she was on: "Cutie Mark Switching Spell." What? A spell that switched ponies' cutie marks? How could that be possible? Twilight read the page, curious.

_From one to another, another to one, a mark of one's destiny singled out fulfilled. I have not been able to finish this spell, and therefore I have abandoned it. I have put this unfinished spell in this book so someone may be able to finish it years in the future._

That was all that was on the page. Twilight gasped. Starswirl was one of the most powerful unicorns in history! To think that he could never finish a spell...it was preposterous! Utterly baffled, Twilight flipped to the next page. She noticed immediately that the words were a different handwriting then Starswirl's messy scrawl. The letters were round, neat, and with little suns on top of each "i." This was Princess Celestia's handwriting!

_It's been very difficult to raise the sun and moon each day. I have stored up vast amounts of magical energy over the years, but I can tell my reserves are running low. Everything was so much easier when Luna was still here... Perhaps what I need is another one capable of raising the moon. _

This must have been written long before Twilight and her friends brought back Princess Luna from the nightmare that consumed her. Twilight read the next entry. This appeared to be some sort of journal.

_Starswirl refuses to embrace the more powerful magic, and therefore his progress as a spell-caster has halted. I'm afraid he'll be unable to ascend. _

Ascend? What could that mean? Twilight read on to the next entry written by Princess Celestia. The next entry appeared to be written many years after the previous one.

_I have opened a school to teach young unicorns magic. But as I teach the ways of spell-casting to these foals, I will also be scouting for a new prince or princess who will be able to raise the moon and allow me to preserve my strength. _

A new prince or princess?! Celestia wanted to create another prince or princess?! Twilight knew she shouldn't be reading this, but she couldn't stop herself. She read the next few lines.

_I have finally found a new pony to join me on the throne: Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence as she likes to be called. Unfortunately, Cadence is not able to raise the moon as Luna once did. My search will continue. _

So Cadence, the Princess of Love, wasn't able to raise the moon. That made sense.

_I thought that Sunset Shimmer was finally the pony I was looking for. But today, she demanded that I teach her more powerful magic. I tried to tell her that magic wasn't just something you learned on its own, that you have to experience friendship and love to become more powerful. But she refused to listen, and fled through the magic mirror. I hope she comes back someday. _

Twilight frowned, trying to make sense of this passage. Who was Sunset Shimmer? What was this magic mirror Celestia wrote about? Twilight read on to the next entry and gasped. It was about her!

_I was walking to the throne room today when I saw an incredible sight: powerful magic flowing out of the school tower. I was shocked to figure out that this intense magic came from a small filly: Twilight Sparkle. I have taken her in as my personal student. I am almost certain that Twilight Sparkle is the filly I have been searching for all these years._

All these revelation were making Twilight's head spin. So Princess Celestia actually thought she could raise the moon? But now that Princess Luna had returned, Celestia wouldn't need Twilight to control the night...right?

_It has been a thousand years since I banished my sister to the moon. Tonight, the stars will line up with the moon, allowing her to escape. I have sent Twilight to Ponyville to make friends and prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration. I can sense five of the new spirits of the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville. I can only hope Twilight Sparkle will be the sixth._

So Celestia knew that Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash would be the Elements of Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty all along. Twilight was beginning to get annoyed. Exactly how much more was her teacher not telling her? Twilight read the final entry.

_I can't believe it! Instead of banishing Nightmare Moon back to her prison, the Elements of Harmony brought my sister back to me! Princess Luna is still recovering, but she will soon be able to raise the moon once more. I suppose my search for one who can help me is over. I have realized that the moon will not accept anypony but my sister to control it. I have also learned that Twilight Sparkle is indeed the Element of Magic. With the power of friendship on her side, I know for sure she'll be able to ascend to become Equestria's newest princess. _

Twilight dropped the book on her hoof again, this time not caring. Celestia wanted to make her...a princess? An alicorn princess? It was too much to take in. Twilight took deep, heavy breaths, unsure of what to do. Princess Celestia clearly didn't want her to know about her ascension. But now Twilight knew. At first the prospect of becoming a princess excited her, but then Twilight realized she, well, didn't really want to become a princess. She didn't want all the attention, all the responsibility. It was just too much. How could Celestia even consider Twilight becoming a princess without asking her first? Now, Twilight was getting angry. She had to find a way to tell Celestia that she wasn't interested.

* * *

The guards bowed an allowed princess Celestia to enter the castle. She walked into her throne room, and saw...Twilight, sitting on her throne, holding The Book of Advanced Magic. Celestia decided to put aside the fact that her student was sitting on her throne.

"Twilight, if you want, we can resume our lesson. The parasprites were a false alarm. Somepony mistook a star spider for a parasprite."

"Oh, no," Twilight smirked. "I've learned everything I need from this book." Something about Twilight's tone, the way she was staring at Celestia accusingly worried the princess.

"Twilight, is there something wrong?" Princess Celestia asked, flying forward towards the unicorn.

Twilight tried her best to look nonchalant, but she couldn't. "Maybe the fact that you're going to turn me into an alicorn against my will!" she shouted.

Celestia's eyes widened. She stood there, speechless, for a while. "How...how did you figure that out?"

Twilight levitated the book and shoved it in Celestia's muzzle. There, the princess saw the journal entries she had written long ago. She cursed at herself silently in her mind. How could she forget the notes she had taken? How could she let Twilight read the book that could ruin everything? Celestia looked at her furious student. "I'm very sorry, Twilight. But being a princess was your destiny."

Twilight teleported right next to Celestia. "You don't control my destiny!" she snarled. "I do! Just because you're immortal, it doesn't mean you can just mold ponies' futures! Don't you realize how wrong that is?!"

"Twilight, if you could forgive me..."

"No, I don't forgive you," the unicorn spat. "I thought that you cared about me, that you wanted me to become an amazing spell-caster. But I was wrong. You only wanted to make me into a princess without even asking me! And if that's the only reason you wanted me to be your student, then consider me expelled. I quit." And with that, Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn, walked out the door.


End file.
